Michigamme Highlands Ecosystem Exploration

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Questions for Exploration:

The main quesiton being explored in this document is: How much of the Michigamme Highlands (MH) is in good versus bad condition? The Data explored, provided by Randy Swaty, include over 90,000 rows and were formed by combining:

  • LANDFIRE ReMap (version 200), Existing Vegetation Cover, Height and Type (evc, evh and evt)
  • LANDFIRE 2012 (version 130) Biophysical Settings
  • Michigamme Highlands raster (converted from polygon supplied by Emily Clegg)

This document has the following goals:

  • Provide basic graphics and interpretations of the Michigamme Highlands by:
  • Comparing past and present acres per ecosystem
  • Identifying degraded lands
  • Summarizing conditions of existing cover, height and type
  • Other

This document is intended to be a start for looking into the Michigamme Highlands, and upon further inspection/analysis can be used to delve further into new questions or edited to information pertinent to those who need it.

This dataset is best for looking at the big picture, and not at specific geographic areas. Happy Reading!

Background & Brief Definitions:

What is BPS? & EVT? What’s the difference between Group Names & Names?

It is important to understand some key terms when analyzing the data for the Michigamme Highlands. Please consult the brief definitions below before embarking onto the data visualizations.

BPS = Biophysical Settings - Historic

BPS stands for Biophysical Settings. BPS data is what vegetation historically dominated landscapes prior to Euro-American settlement - the ecosystems that were once in a given area. This is estimated accoridng to LANDFIRE.GOV by “the current biophysical environment and an approximation of the historical disturbance regime”.

EVT = Existing Vegetation Type - Current

EVT stands for Existing Vegetation Type and includes “the current distribution of the terrestrial ecological systems classification” (LANDFIRE). EVT data is from 2016 and represents current ecosystems.

BPS = Historic, EVT = Current. The remainder of this document will use “Historic” and “Current” as the main means of referencing these data.

Group Names and Names:

The data include both “Group Names” and “Names”. “Names” have more specified ecosystem types such as:

  • “Laurentian Jack Pine-Red Pine Forest”
  • “Laurentian-Acadian Sub-boreal Mesic Balsam Fir-Spruce Forest”
  • “Northeastern North American Temperate Forest Plantation”
  • Etc.

This means, for example, that two groups that are both Hardwoods may have different names given to them, making looking at the bigger picture of ecosystem types and change over time difficult.

Therefore, “Group Names” are also assigned to the data, allowing larger-scale comparisons of all “Hardwoods”, “Conifer”, “Riparian”, etc. This allows for more effective data visualization of the Michigamme Highlands.

Group Names = Overall Ecosystem Type, Names = Specified Ecosystem

The remainder of this document contains different data visualizations using the data from both BPS and EVT ecosystems. Descriptions are provided to give context and interpretation of each graph.

Each graph can be “hovered” over with a mouse to see total acres for the given Group Ecosystem or Name.

Graphs and Beginning Interpretations of the Michigamme Highlands:

First, let’s start with looking how group ecosystems have changed over time.

Using BPS data, the four most common historic ecosystems (Group Names) in the MH were:

Hardwoods occupied just under half, 47.9%, of the area. (Open Water was removed from the groups as well as Barren-Rock/Sand/Clay which occupied half of one percent of the historic area).

Next, looking at the current (EVT) Group Names of the Michigamme Highlands:

There are several more ecosystems currently represented in the Michigamme Highlands compared to the BPS data, even at the group level. The majority of the MH are still hardwood, represented by the “Yellow Birch-Sugar Maple Forest” with over 330,000 acres (44%) in this group.

Any ecosystem <2% of the total acreage was omitted from the following graph.

Compared to total acres, there is a relatively small percentage (5.3%) of developed land, and minimal (0.08%) Agriculture.

Primary Conclusions of Group Ecosystems (Historic and Present) of the Michigamme Highlands:

Ecosystem Names:

Now, let’s focus in on more specific ecosystem names historically and currently in the MH.

Historically, hardwoods made up a significant portion (59.6%) of the Michigamme Highlands, with Laurentian-Acadian Northern Hardwoods, Northern Hardwoods - Hemlock, and Pine-Hemlock-Hardwood forest being the top three named ecosystems.

Any Ecosystem Name representing <2% of the total acerage was omitted from the following graph.

There are 75 named ecosystems for the current (EVT) data of the Michigamme Highlands. However, all ecosystems beyond the top 9 compose less than 2% each of the MH, so have been omitted from the graph.